Friday 13 January 2012

Happy Jamuary! (and a giveaway!)

Happy New year all. For some the new year is all about celebrating the exciting things to come. Making plans, clearing out, writing lists.
For me, one of the big things about the new year, which tends to bring cold grey dull weather, is looking back at the previous year's bounty and cracking open some delicious preserves to get us through the hunger gap. I know, I know, this time of the year is all about marmalade making, which I will be doing like a mad thing for the next few weeks. Yet, when JAMuary comes around all I can think about is the excitement of having lots of tasty fruity concoctions in jars to enjoy in all sorts of ways.

Jamuary is the genius of a friend of mine and her other half. After a good ole catch up in November we discussed how I could get people more excited about preserves. We bashed some ideas around and parted ways. Later that night my phone flashed up with a text message. "How about JAMurary! Like Movember is to moustaches, JAMuary is to preserves!"

A stroke of pure genius!
So to celebrate the first year of what I hope will be many Jamuary's, I am going to give you a series of posts about how to use that delightful produce you so dutifully potted and canned in the summer. And to kick it all off, I'm going to offer you a chance to win some jam! Over the next two weeks I will be doing two giveaways, each for a jar of my bestselling jams. I want to get you excited about preserves, thinking about how to use them in different ways, and bring a little bit of fruity sunshine this new year.

First up is my Apricot and Vanilla jam. A best-seller in both deli's and markets, this is a decadent jams packed with flecks of Madagascan vanilla beans and made with organic apricots. Lots of my customers say they enjoy it not only on toast, but gently heated as an accompaniment to their porridge or ice cream! Now that's the spirit of Jamuary!

To enter, all you need to do is follow me on Twitter - @no98limited, and leave a comment here saying what jams you'll be enjoying this month. One lucky winner will be chosen at random at 10.00 GMT on Friday 20th. Entries will close at midnight (GMT) on Thursday 19th.

Happy Jamuary everyone!

4 comments:

  1. I don't do twitter I'm afraid, but I'll answer your questions anyway! This month I've got two jars open: rhubarb and vanilla (homemade) and peach and a red berry of some sort (yep, that one's shop bought!)

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  2. I'll be enjoying a variety of jams & preserves this month - currently tart cherry peach is in the fridge. The blackberry habanero over brie was a big hit at the Rock Day potluck.

    I'm not surprised the your apricot and vanilla is one of your bestsellers - it's divine!

    -the redhead-

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  3. I'm in the US so I hope I can play along :-) I follow you on Twitter (and just retweeted your latest post.) We have pots of marmalade and strawberry at the house right now but your apricot and vanilla sounds so wonderful.

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  4. Rebecca- Somehow I missed this post, but I just wanted to say that I think Jamuary is a great idea. I too have been thinking about ways to use up all the jam I have. In fact I just made some Thumbprint cookies that would be amazing with an Apricot Vanilla jam. So, even though I didn't know it was Jamuary I am still celebrating. So great to see your jam business growing.

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